Croatian-born Haris Custovic's Laus imprint has been putting out quality tech-house cuts since 2000 and has played host to many heavyweight DJs and producers on the international scene, including Colin Dale, Renato Lopez and David Duriez. Haris's rich musical heritage, which includes a jazz musician father and a classical music school education, coupled with his Croydon 'tech-nous' imbues his productions with a distinctive, melodic, high-energy sound. An experienced DJ, Haris is planning to push the boundaries of house music in a club environment with a full live band 'experience' on his forthcoming tour. I dragged him away from preparations for a quick chat...

Danny Hargreaves: Given your jazz / classical music background, what made you decide to concentrate on electronic music?

Haris Custovic: I did not really make a set decision, it just kind of happened to me over the years. I went to music school in my hometown Dubrovnik, Croatia and became fascinated by synthesizers and sequencers and things that they can do. I had a Roland D-20 that I used to make my first electronic tracks, influenced by Kraftwerk and many other electronica artists, so it was a natural progression to move towards house music. Later I also started DJing and I wanted to make tracks that I could play in my sets. House music with it's drive and energy (and everything else that goes with it :) has always been important in my life so I thought "here is my contribution".

DH:Are you happy with the way the house scene is progressing?


HC: It seems that house is becoming more electronic and computerised sounding, probably due to all the softsynths and softsamplers being used these days. I really wish there were more chords, cool vocals and riffs in the tunes around at the moment.

DH: How would you characterize your sound?

HC: Rolling, twisting, electric, acoustic, straight, breaky, deep, uplifting, some kind of fusion of many different, opposite things....

DH: How do you approach putting a track together?

HC: Depends what kind of track it is. I always try to plan ahead as much as I can, whatever I do. If it's going to be minimal and druggy, I will start with making FX and building grooves, and try to have some kind of foundation before arranging. But if it's going to be more musical thing, I will play some chords on a piano or a guitar and work on some riffs and melodies. I like to inspire myself by listening to different types of music before starting producing or even watching a film to get some mad ideas.

DH: What can we expect from a Haris live performance?

HC: Lots of energy and action on stage. I will be playing a few keyboards and operating a Mac laptop running Ableton live; Sebastian Wronsky will be sequencing with 2 more laptops - one with Ableton and another with
Reason - he will also be mixing the whole thing on stage. We will have a bass player Jimi Cubanos doing the pulling and slapping and Duncan White playing loads of different tribal percussion. We will also try to have
guest vocalists from time to time. We are currently rehearsing as we have couple of gigs already lined up for the end of spring and summertime. As soon as we are ready, we will do a showcase somewhere in London. Hopefully Fabric will have us there at some point and another big one for us will be doing an MTV Valkana beach festival in Istria, on the northern Croatian coast. We are very much looking forward to doing the whole thing!

DH: Do you think the club scene would benefit from becoming more 'gig' oriented, with emphasis on live performers as opposed to traditional DJs?

HC: Definitely. I think that nowadays when most club and party people have been there and done it , punters and promoters are looking for that something extra more than ever, whether it be a DJ / producer with loads of
gadgets in the booth like 909s, FX, Final Scratches or a full on live performance, as long as it's quality. We all know that the easiest thing is to take a box of records and spin them all night long but it's that extra effort that counts and makes all the difference.

DH: You frequently collaborate with other tech-house DJs / Producers. Do you have a 'wishlist' of future production partners?

HC: Yes I do and I really enjoy collaborations, they are really refreshing when you work by yourself all the time and they can be totally inspiring. When you have two producers in the studio that really understand each-other, magical things happen. In the future I would love to collaborate with some of the big boys like Francois Kevorkian or Carl Craig, that would be an experience, for sure :)

DH: How healthy is the house scene in your native Croatia, and eastern europe generally?

HC: I try to go back there couple of times a year to DJ and see all my friends, have some nice Croatian food and also to see what's happening on the scene. There are quite a few clubs over there and big Djs like Danny Howels, Derric May, Sven Vath and loads of others have all been there. People know what they want and need to hear in the clubs so it's a bit of a challenge playing there. There are also lots of Croatian DJs on the scene as well. Eastern Europe's party scene in general is booming at the moment, it's the place to be and many DJs are trying to get their ass over there because the crowd is so up for it and it's good times all the way!

DH:What forms of music influence your sound?

HC:Too many to mention !!! I was always heavily influenced by Jazz-funk fusion and the way that they use electronic instruments in their arrangements; also classical music, 80's electronica, dub, world music, drum and bass, hip hop - there is an amazing piece of music in every style regardles of one's taste.

DH: Any favorite non-house producers?

HC: I really like what that guy Timbaland does, not that I am in love with R'n'B but his mixes always sound so good....excellent!

DH: What's been your best recent gig?

HC: Last summertime when I DJed at MTV Valkana festival in Croatia. I played with Circulation and Danny Rampling on stage in the arena in front of 3000 people! They had an amazing sound system, enormous lights
and lasers and an absolutely huge video wall behind the DJ. The crowd was so up for it and I was playing almost until 3am - that was unforgettable really. Every Djs dream.

DH: Any favorite places to play?

HC: There are many, but I must say I love to play Fabric in London; the monitors are wicked in there, amazing sound system and crowd is so great when it all fires off. Also Maniac Love in Tokyo, a totally underground place, perfect working conditions, the crowd's so up for it... and the people are so nice there! I am off to play there again in May, can't wait for the Sushi and all the rest of it!

DH: What can we expect from you in the future?

HC: More 12" singles on my label Laus records as well as some other labels. I want to release another record on End recordings and that should happen soon. I am still working on my album - I hope to release it at some point this century! It's taking me such a long time to do it simply because I do not want to release just another compilation of dance tracks, and also because I want it to be a concept album with musicians and vocalists on it. That kind of thing always takes time. There will also be a mix CD and more gigs Djing and playing live in cool places around the globe!

Watch out for Laus L016 'Supadrug', featuring mixes from Haris and Tony Thomas!